The confusion of viewers about the representation of British schools in the new Netflix series

It's a new Netflix-coming-of-age show with a handsome cast, a witty dialogue, three-dimensional characters and Gillian Anderson as a sex therapist – the only problem is that nobody knows for sure where or when it should be set up.

Sexual education takes place at a high school in Wales and the cast wears smartphones – but they also wear their own clothes and Varsity jackets in American style, they spend time chatting through their six foot lockers in the hallways and they play American football.

The language and accents are & # 39; British & # 39 ;, but the soundtrack and wardrobe come directly from an American comedy from the 80s of the last century.

Viewers on Twitter are full of praise for the series – including some who feared it would kill the internet & # 39; with a Anderson promotion tube setting a condom on a courgette – but the American style has left a lot of confusion behind.

Just another day at a high school in Penarth, Wales. A viewer went to Twitter to ask: & # 39; where should the f ** k be set? & # 39;

As everyone knows, British high school students usually hang around with burned school t-shirts

X-Files star Gillian Anderson plays a sex therapist on the show, who warned viewers in advance in promotional tweets: "You will see breasts, you will see bum & # 39;

Looking at sex education on Netflix and I am confused about why this seems to be set to an American high school that is put down in the middle of England & # 39 ;, read a comment online.

Another user on Twitter said: & # 39; Sex Education on Netflix: where should the f ** k be set? Why are they all so old? Why do not they wear a school uniform? & # 39;

& # 39; Make it logical & # 39 ;, pleaded another and added: 'It is British but American but British … but American. & # 39;

Sex education was shot in an old school in Penarth, South Wales with a British cast and crew.

But visually speaking, this is more Saved by The Bell or American Pie than it trains Essex or The Valleys.

The school is called Moorfield High. It has lockers that are decorated with school combs and pennants, and there is no school uniform. Instead, the pupils wear their own clothes, which may come directly from the props room of the breakfast club, and some sports varsity letterman jackets such as extras by Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

The American look and feel is exacerbated by lockers decorated with tops and pennants

Gillian Anderson told the Radio Times that the mash-up was targeted.

Anderson, himself something of an Anglo-American, predicted British viewers would notice the shocking inconsistencies but they would sail over the heads of the American public.

"There is a bit of both worlds, certainly, in the series, and the goal and hope is that the Americans will not notice it, & # 39; she said,

For example, the British may notice that they are throwing American footballs, while the Americans do not notice that this may be strange for people who speak with British accents.

The rules change constantly in terms of how an audience receives the shows they view, what they are willing to accept and which realms and worlds they are willing to suspend their disbelief.

& # 39; I think Netflix feels pretty strongly about having found something with this merger. & # 39;

Many online prizes the show, but viewers also noticed the inconsistent images

One Twitter user had a particularly advanced theory to explain the mid-Atlantic atmosphere

People on Twitter and other social media sites wondered what the American feeling of the drama was

Sex educator Laurie Nunn and series director Ben Taylor told the magazine that the feeling of the American high school is a deliberate nod to their direct influences.

Writer, Nunn, said: I have always been really influenced by American film and TV shows; they played a very big role in my own teenage years, so that was always something I wanted to come back to.

"It's stuck in Britain, but we made a very deliberate choice to make that American, reverting nostalgia, John Hughes, feel. & # 39;

Hughes is the filmmaker behind The Breakfast Club, Home Alone and Ferris Bueller & # 39; s Day Off.

Director Ben Taylor added: & # 39; We wanted to make a show with lockers from The Breakfast Club in it.

It was stylistically a conscious choice early on that we avoided it from a geographical area, knowing where it was exactly. Mid-Atlantic, American influence, but British ingredients. & # 39;

He said that he & # 39; really frustrated & # 39; was that British school days & # 39; never be depicted with positivity or color or warmth or hope & # 39; and wanted the background of the American feeling that your school days are the best of your life, in which you can place your story.

The show is a trick from the American streaming giant Netflix to challenge the BBC's monopoly on British channels according to The Telegraph. , who pointed out that the cast may be British slang as & # 39; sh *** ing & # 39; to use sex, but that the show is put on the market for a worldwide audience.

It follows the success of Netflix on the BBC for period drama, as with the crown with Olivia Coleman in the leading role, who earlier this month bragged a Golden Globe.

Sex education was shot in Caerleon, a former campus of the University of South Wales that was closed in 2016. Netflix gave local teens work experience on this, the first season, and said it hoped they would return to fulfill other roles as the series progresses.

Jamie Campbell, the producer, told Radio 4 that he wanted the drama to be different from the British school drama & # 39; s

The show is a trick from the American streaming giant Netlfix to challenge the BBC's monopoly

Alex Sapot, the American Netflix manager who gave sex education, said: & # 39; The theme is the universal bit

& # 39; Looking at sex education on Netflix and I am confused about why this seems to be located at an American high school that has been put down in the middle of England & # 39 ;, read one comment online

Why are they all so old? Why do not they wear a school uniform? & # 39; read another note